A coalition of housing, banking and public interest groups on Thursday strongly condemned the Federal Housing Finance Agency for implementing an “adverse market fee” on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage refinances. The fee is designed to protect Fannie and Freddie from risk associated with the pandemic. It charges 0.5 percent of the loan amount to the borrower, or nearly $1,500 on the typical mortgage in the United States. The American Bankers Association, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Realtors and 17 other organizations called the fee an “ill-timed, misguided” surprise. “Wednesday night’s surprise announcement by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) conflicts with the Administration’s recent executive actions urging federal agencies to take all measures within their authority…
Multifamily property owners whose mortgages are backed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae must inform tenants in writing about rent and eviction protections if they enter into a new or modified forbearance agreement, The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Thursday. While in forbearance due to economic challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, property owners must agree not to evict tenants solely for not paying rent. “Landlords in forbearance must notify their tenants that they cannot be evicted for nonpayment of rent due to the pandemic,” FHFA Director Mark Calabria said. “If tenants are able to pay their rent, they should continue to do so.” Other protections previously announced include: Giving tenants at least a 30-day notice to vacate;Not charging tenants…
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported financial results for the second quarter on Thursday, with Fannie notching net income of $2.5 billion and Freddie recording $1.9 billion. Both companies reported significantly higher net worth as of June 30. Here are the details: Fannie Mae Fannie Mae reported net income of $2.5 billion for the second quarter of 2020, compared with net income of $461 million for the first quarter of 2020 – due primarily to a decline in credit-related expense in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the first quarter of 2020. Fannie Mae’s net worth increased from $13.9 billion as of March 31, 2020 to $16.5 billion as of June 30, 2020. Fannie Mae provided $542 billion in…
Want to buy a mortgage? Fannie Mae announced Tuesday it is putting 18,300 reperforming loans up for sale as part of its ongoing effort to reduce the size of its mortgage portfolio. Reperforming loans are loans that were previously delinquent but have reperformed for a period of time. Some of the loans may be up to 90 days delinquent. The terms of Fannie Mae’s reperforming loan sale require the buyer to offer loss mitigation options designed to be sustainable to any borrower who may re-default within five years following the closing of the reperforming loan sale. In addition, buyers must report on loss mitigation outcomes. Any reporting requirements cease once a loan has been current for twelve consecutive months after the…
The Federal Finance Housing Agency on Monday announced 2021 housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that are identical to the mortgage purchase goals that were in place for the last three years. “Due to the economic uncertainty related to the COVID-19 national pandemic, FHFA is proposing benchmarks for calendar year 2021 only, and those levels will remain the same as they were for 2018-2020,” FHFA said in announcing the goals. Here are the single-family goals for 2021: GoalCurrent 2018-2020 benchmark Proposed 2021 benchmarkLow-Income Home Purchase Goal24 percent24 percentVery Low-Income Home Purchase Goal6 percent6 percentLow-Income Areas Home Purchase Subgoal14 percent14 percentLow-Income Refinancing Goal21 percent21 percent Here are the multi-family goals for 2021: GoalCurrent 2018-2020 benchmark Proposed 2021 benchmark Low-Income Goal315,000…
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are looking for financial advisors to help them emerge from conservatorship. Each of the GSEs announced they will be issuing a request for proposal on Tuesday to “secure a financial advisor that will facility the company’s responsible exit for conservatorship. The advisors will help Fannie and Freddie on everything from capital considerations to business plans to capital raising activities and more. “Even as we work to stabilize the housing markets during this unprecedented pandemic, Freddie Mac has remained focused on exiting conservatorship responsibly,” David Brickman, Freddie Mac CEO David Brickman said. “Today we begin the competitive selection process for a financial advisor that will ultimately facilitate our return to full private capital ownership. This is…
Fannie Mae’s net income dropped 90 percent in the first quarter of 2020 as credit expenses piled up as the coronavirus pandemic shook the economy beginning in mid-March. Net income dropped from $4.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019 to $461 million in the first quarter of 2020 – with more challenges on the horizon due to a growing number of borrowers taking advantage of forbearance. Fannie increased its allowance for loan losses to reflect the losses it currently expects to incur, including $4.1 billion as a result of the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, which are reflected in its $2.7 billion of credit-related expenses for the quarter. Fannie Mae estimates that 7 percent of its single-family…
Mark Calabria appears to have misjudged the burden the coronavirus pandemic is going to have on the mortgage industry. Calabria, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, told HousingWire earlier this month that he expected about 1 million mortgages backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to go into forbearance. Financial technology firm Black Knight found that there were nearly 1.4 million Fannie and Freddie loans in forbearance as of Friday, April 19 – representing 4.9 percent of their mortgages. “In these times, it is essential to both our industry and for the benefit of the entire U.S. economy to have a clear understanding of the magnitude of the mortgage forbearance situation,” Black Knight CEO Anthony Jabbour said. Calabria has been…
